Viscous liquid dispenser



Patented Aug. 31, 1943 2.328.106 VISCOUS LIQUID DISPENSER William J. Strong, Wheeling, W.

Wheeling Stamping W. Va...

Compa y, a corporation of West Virginia Va, ass lnor to Wheeling,

Application January 11, 1940, Serial No. 313,411

-1 Claim. (CI. 9144) This invention pertains to the dispensing of viscous liquids, such for example as the adhesive which is used to cement liners in bottle caps and fluids of like character, and the invention is for a dispensing apparatus which will intermittently dispense a predetermined quantity of fluid from a reservoir without the inclusion of bubbles and without the splashing or spraying of the viscous or adhesive material. The invention is primarily applicable to the manufacture of closure caps where a small amount of liquid cement is in- Jected into each cap and the cap subsequently passed through a lining machine where a disk of lining material is inserted into the cap, and the invention will be hereinafter specifically described in connection with the manufacture of closure caps but it will be understood that the invention is not in its broader aspects limited to this particular line of manufacture.

In the manufacture of closure caps such, ior example, as bottle caps, particularly closure caps made of plastic material such as Bakelite, it is the usual practice to put a lining in the bottom of the cap, this lining being in the form of a disk of cork or special paper or like substance. In some caps the lining is mechanically held in place by an overhanging shoulder formed on the inside of the cap and in other cases the lining is cemented in place.

For applying the lining the caps are fed into a turntable where they are carried around in a step-by step movement. each cap in turn being brought beneath a plunger which cuts a disk of lining material from a continuous strip and forces the disk so out into the cap. The plunger then withdraws and the turntable advances to bring the next cap into position and at the same time the strip of paper or other material for lining is fed forwardly. Machines of this character are well known in the art and form no part of the present invention per se. I, I

The adhesive material which is used to cement the liner in place must of course be applied to the caps before the disk of lining material is forced down into them. The adhesive material is necessarily a heavy viscous material. This material flows very slowly under gravity. Machines have heretofore been successfully operated where the adhesive material does flow by gravity into a tube through which the adhesive is discharged into the cap, but such machines because of the high viscosity of the adhesive, operate at a comparatively slow speed. The cap lining machines of "the type above referred to are capable of lining several hundred caps a minute, and mechanisms for applying the glue which depend upon gravity to supply the adhesive to the caps are entirely too slow for such high rates of speed.

Numerous attempts have heretofore been made to force the glue into the caps under pressure. but such attempts have not been successful because the flow of adhesive has to be intermittent, and this intermittent operation is secured by a valve. When the material is expelled under pres-- sure through a small orifice controlled by an intermittently operating valve, the adhesive frequently sprays or spatters, so that instead of all of the glue dropping into the bottom of the closure to be lined, it sprays onto the walls of the closure and also sprays onto the exterior of other caps which are moving into position to have glue applied thereto rendering such caps unfit for sale as first quality caps. In attempts which have heretofore been made to use pressure, the glue or other adhesive material has been charged into a reservoir and air under pressure is forced into this reservoir to force the glue out of the discharge valve. Attempts have also been made to use a plunger to apply pressure to the fluid in the reservoir. With both methods of expelling the glue the spattering and spraying of the glue as above referred to occurs so generally as to make the 'use of such equipment commercially unfeasible.

I have discovered that if the pressure on the adhesive is secured through-the use of an expansible elastic chamber immersed in the vessel in which the glue or other adhesive is contained, the desired pressure for expelling the glue at high speed can be secured but the spraying and spattering is entirely eliminated and the glue will be ejected from the intermittently operated valve in coherent drops.

According to my invention there is provided an attachment for cap lining machines which can be operated at the same speed as the lining Figure 3 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section showing the glue-applying unit per se, on1y a portion of the lining machine being shown in dotted lines;

Figure 4 is a detailed view showing the discharggialve from which the fluid is ejected into the-ca Figure 5 is a view through a rubber bag: such as is used in the assembly shown in Figure: 3 for applying pressure to theadhesive;

Figure 6 is a perspective view of a part used inside thecontrol valve; and

Figure 7 is a'top plan view of the lever on the lining machine which operates the valve.

In the drawings, 2 designates generally the bed of a cap lining machine of a type commonly used in the industry. On the bed, of this machine is a turntable 3 having a scalloped periphery, the indentations 01 which form cap-receiving recesses. The caps are supplied in succession through a conveyor 4 and a pusher 5 serves to transfer the caps from the discharge end of the conveyor into the notches or recesses in the disk 3 as the disk 3 is intermittently turned. The caps are carried by the disk 3 around to. a stripping guide 6 by means of which they are forced out of the recesses in the periphery of the disk and transferred back onto an extension of the conveyor 4 which carries the caps to a point of discharge.

Mounted on the bed of the machine and projecting upwardly through the center of the disk 3 is a stationary column I. Passing upwardly through the column 1 is a reciprocating rod 8 and it is through this rod that motion is transmitted to a reciprocating crosshead 9. I0 designates a punch carried on this crosshead for cutting a disk of lining material from a strip I i that is moved along beneath the punch Ill. The punch Iii operates in timed relation to the movement of the disk 3 so that each time one of the notches or recesses in the periphery of the disk 3 moves into position under the punch ill, the punch Ill will move down and cut a disk from the strip I I and force it down into the cap which is immediately under it.

The general assembly of the machine as thus far described is well known to the art and forms no part of my invention per se.

According to my invention a bracket [2 is secured to the central column I and secured to this bracket is a cylindrical vessel or tank l3.

This tank has a discharge tube I4 leading from the bottom thereof and. it is provided with a removable cover ii. The removable cover is provided with a pipe nipple l6, and a rubber tube I1 is connected onto the nipple I8, the rubber tube permitting the cover IE to be easily applied to and taken from the top of the vessel. The rubber tube may be provided with a conveniently located hand valve l8, and the tube is adapted .to lead to a source of high pressure air supply.

Located in the vessel i3 is a rubber bag l3 which forms a flexible elastic expansible chamber, the upper end of the rubber bag being shown as having a bead 23 to seat on the top of the vessel l3 and to be clamped between the top of the vessel l3 and the underside of the cover l5 so that air under pressure entering through the nipple It can flow into the bag 19 but cannot flow into the vessel itself.

The vessel i3 is adapted to hold a body of the thick viscous adhesive material which is used to cement the cap liners in place, this body of adhesive material being designated 2|.

The discharge tube l4 opens into a cylindrical valve member 22 which is supported on a bracket 23 at the side of the cylinder l3. The-valve casing 22 is exteriorly threaded at 24, and nuts 25 above and below the bracket 23 provide a means for removably holding the valve casing in the bracket and also enable some adjustment of the valve casing to be made in a vertical direction. Secured to the lower end of the tubular valve casing 22 is a removable .cap 23 having a small central orifice 21 therein.

The top of the tubular valve casing is closed by a removable cap 28, and there is a fibre washer 29 in this cap. 7 A reciprocable needle valve member 33 passes through the cap 28 and the washer 29 and extends down through the valve casing, and it is provided with a point 30a that normally closes the orifice 21 at the bottom of the valve casing. Within the valve casing between the casing and the cap 23 is a perforated disk 3|. Resting 'on this diskiis an inverted cup shaped member 32 shown in detail in Figure 6 having a central orifice through which the valve 30 passes and having an annular series of small holes about the central orifice through which material flows to the discharge orifice 21 at the bottom of the valve.

The valve stem 30 is screwed into the bottom j ofan operating rod 33 which rod passes upwardly through a guide bracket 34. It is provided with an abutment at its upper end in the form of a nut 35 which is screwed onto the threaded upper end of the rod 33 and which is held in place by a lock nut 36. A compression spring 31 -is confined between the bracket 34 and a nut 38 screwed onto the lower end of the rod 33, there also being a lock nut 38a below the nut 38. The spring 31 exerts a pressure downwardly to hold the neodle valve 30a. seated in the orifice 21 to normally close the valve.

The valve is intermittently operated in proper timed relation to the rest of the lining machine through a lever 40 pivotally supported on a bracket 4| on the top'of the cylindrical column 1 at the center of the machine. The lever 40, best of the lining machine, the lower end of the screw 43 will near the lower limit of travel of the member 13, engage the inner end of the lever 40 and lift it. This lifting motion will be continued until the outer terminal portion 40a of the lever will bear against the abutment 35 andlift the valve. The lifting of the valve occurs at the extreme lower limit of the stroke of the machine so that the valve is open only for a very short interval of time.

The interval of time which the valve will stay open can be controlled first by adjusting the screw 43 up or down. -A second adjustment is provided through the adjustability of the abutment up and down on the shaft 33 while a third adjustment is provided by the. adjustability of the valve 22 up and down with reference to the bracket 23, this adjustment being provided through the two nuts 25 as previously explained.

In the operation of the machine the head I5 of the supply tank I3 is removed and the adhesive material is poured into the tank. The rubber bag I3 is then inserted in the top of the tank and at this time it will be collapsed.- The head I! is then put onto the tank and the valve is to inverted cup 32 also improves the character of control the flow of air supply into the rubber bag is opened. The air under pressureenterlng the bag will expand it and the pressure exerted by the bag will'be transmitted to the conflned mass of adhesive liquid, the amount of pressure of course depending upon the amount of pressure supplied to the tank It. The-machine is then put into operation and with each stroke of the machine the valve 30a is opened to permit a small- Eventually all of the fluid will be displaced and the rubber bag'will be expanded to substantially an the entire chamber It. The dimenslon of the chamber and the'dimension of the bag are so proportioned that the bag, will not be stripped beyond a safe limit of expansion; The use of the rubber bag for applying pressure to the adhesive enables the pressure on the adhesive to be kept uniform. The air used for expelling the adhesive cannot enter the fluid itself so that air bubbles are not created in the fluid, which is probably one reason why the splashing or spattering of the liquid is prevented. Also, the rub- I which expands suddenly when fluid is discharged her bag permits any bubbles which might be trapped in the fluid to rise to the 'tgp of the vessel l3 whereas a piston for'applying pressure to the fluid is less likely to permit the bubbles to escape and this is probably one of the reasons why the expansible elastic chamber is superior to a piston. The fact remains that in the operation of the machine the proper amount of adhesive can be expelled into each cap and the adhesive will not spray or spatter, whereas with methods of expulsion heretofore used. other than gravity methods, the adhesive has spattered not only the cap towhich the adhesive is being apthe discharge of the minute quantity of adhesive that is expelled with each operation of the valve.

The capping machine described is capable of operating at a rate of more than 300 caps per minute, and the adhesive-applying mechanism has beenfound to be entirely satisfactory at the maximum speed of operation of the machine.

While I have described the invention speciflcally in connection with a capping machine, it is applicable to other machines and processes where a viscous liquid has to be intermittently expelled in more or less measured quantities from a reservoir and where it is important to preventvthe inclusion of air bubbles or the spattering of liquid due to the presence of contained air in the fluid from the discharge nozzle. The volume of liquid discharged can be quite accurately controlled through proper adjustment of the valve operating mechanism and by correlating the pressure used in the'expansible chamber with the timing of the valve.

While I have illustrated and described a 'pre-- ferred embodiment of my invention, itwill be understood that various changes and modiflcations may be made within the construction and arrangement of the various parts and within the contemplation of my invention and under the scope of the following claim.

" I claim: 7

A machine for applying adhesive to the in terior of caps for bottles and the like comprising' a nomle for squirting a small amount of adhesive into each cap in succession, meansfor moving the caps in abutting succession under the nozzle; a valve for the nozzle operated in timed relation to the movement of the caps, a closed reservoir for adhesive connected to the so nozzle, and an expandible air bag in the reservoir plied, but the exteriors of adjacent caps. The

connected with the source of air at a pressure for maintaining pressure on the adhesive whereby the adhesive is expelled from the nozzle under pressure in regulated amounts without spattering Y 5 adjacent caps.

'wnmAM J. s'moNG. 

